Reach for Success

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At the annual NRPA Congress in Anaheim, the Gold Medal Awards are presented in five population categories as part of the opening general session. This year for the first time the Armed Forces Division has its own category. The National Gold Medal Award is presented for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management. The four finalists in each class are announced and the winner is presented with a Gold Medal plaque.

It is truly an honor to be selected as a final four candidate and I want to congratulate Waukegan Park District and St. Charles Park District for making it to the final four in their respective divisions. I also want to congratulate Rockford Park District for winning Class II and Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois for being the first Gold Medal winner of the Armed Forces Division. Gold Medal finalists put a lot of time and effort into their proposals, highlighting their excellence in the field of park and recreation management. These are agencies that strive to be successful. They emulate what it means to keep reaching, to extend themselves and take chances. That’s what it takes to be successful. It may not be possible for every agency to apply for the Gold Medal Award, but we can always keep reaching to improve and be successful.

Park Districts and Recreation Departments are faced with difficult economic times and are forced to be more creative and more cost-conscious in planning and implementing their operations. This past year I challenged my full-time staff of 29 to save $1,000 each by reducing expenses, negotiating agreements, and evaluating methods to save money on existing operations. This is not reducing services, just reducing expenses. It is a team goal of saving $29,000. This idea was generated through the actions of one of our office staff, Donna Ray Gasiorowski.

Donna Ray is responsible for purchasing our office supplies. She negotiates each purchase. She will ask the question, "How can I get a bigger discount?" Sometimes it might be as simple as increasing the amount that is being purchased or the sales rep will tell her to wait until next month and that product will go on sale. She also clips coupons from the Sunday ads as our supplier will honor any competing sales coupon. Donna Ray also gets prizes from the various suppliers that we give away during our annual employee appreciation night. Her extra effort provides thousands of dollars in annual savings.

With our team goal of achieving $29,000 in savings, we are just under $20,000 with a few months to go in our fiscal year. The staff has come up with some creative cost-saving ideas, but the best part is it has prompted sharing of ideas that might help another department save money in a similar manner. In the scope of our entire budget, this is a small amount, but it demonstrates that everyone can contribute an idea to save money when that idea is implemented and they can see results that benefit the park district. It is a great team-building project.

Today it is important that you develop a culture in which the employee wants to go the extra mile, wants to excel, and can see the results of their efforts. They feel part of a successful team. Challenge your employees to succeed. It doesn’t have to be financial. It can be a certain number of new programs or it could be a method to complete a task more efficiently. Employees want to be challenged, and it develops better interaction among staff. The ultimate beneficiary of these efforts are the citizens we serve.

-John Curran, IPRA Chairman